Question: For some time on the corner of Wellington and Haywood Road in West Asheville, there has been a collapsed building. Nothing seems to be going on with its removal. What's the story on the building? What was it, what are the plans for removal of the materials, and is there anything planned to go into that space?

My answer: Here in Asheville, we like to let a collapsed building age for awhile before removal.

Real answer: Jason Nortz, assistant director of the city of Asheville's Development Services Department, said the site at 290 Haywood Road was a partially constructed building when it collapsed back in June.

"The latest news is the site is secure, the sidewalks and the side road are reopened," Nortz said. "The demolition permit was issued back in June, and revisions to the building permit were recently submitted back on Oct. 16 and are awaiting review and approval."

The contractor, Bryan Sinclair with Paint Rock Builders, said construction should take place in 2016.

"The reason building is not going on is we're going to mobilize the equipment for the demolition and for the new construction at the same time," Sinclair said.

The new structure will be a commercial building, but Sinclair did not have further details. The property owner was traveling, he said.

A previous story in the Citizen-Times said the building was being rehabbed for three new tenants, including a bakery and restaurant, when it collapsed. No one was injured and no one was in the building.

Question: I was out at the Biltmore the other day and noticed the Black Angus cattle on the hillside. It made me wonder: How big is the livestock operation at Biltmore? How many Black Angus cattle do they have? How many sheep and chickens? What do they do with the meat and, in the case of the sheep, the wool? Do they keep the meat and wool local, i.e. in their own restaurants? Or do they sell it?

My answer: More importantly, are the livestock properly decorated for Christmas?

Real answer: Biltmore Vice President of Agriculture Ted Katsigianis offered a lot of detail on this question.

"Biltmore has a large field-to-table program on the estate, with 225 mature, breeding Angus cows," he said. "Our inventory also includes 60 younger Angus heifers and eight breeding bulls. After spring calving, we have approximately 225 calves on the estate."

The estate also has 25 Angus-Wagyu cross-breeding age cows, 10 younger heifers and two breeding bulls.

"Wagyu is the breed from Japan that produces the famous Kobe beef," Katsigianis said. "Our beef is not the Kobe process, but we use the genetics to produce a wonderful beef product served in estate restaurants."

"Usually after calving in the spring we will have close to 700 head of cattle on the estate," he continued. "Most of our offspring are retained or sold for breeding stock throughout the Southeast region."

On the sheep front, the estate has 250 mature breeding ewes and 15 rams.

"After spring lambing, we will have an additional 400 lambs," Katsigianis said. "Sheep are also sold for breeding stock throughout the region."

Their sheep are White Dorpers, a hair and meat breed that sheds its fleece.

"Hair sheep are extremely popular throughout the Southeast," he said. "High quality wool is best produced in northern areas or in arid regions, like Texas for example."

Regarding chickens, Biltmore has about 250 free-range laying hens, including heirloom breeds of chickens of which many are breeds original to the farming operation George Vanderbilt began.

"We also produce free-range meat chickens from groups of a breed called the Freedom Ranger," Katsigianis said. "We do not market meat to be sold off the estate. Beef, lamb, chicken and eggs are all consumed through Biltmore’s restaurants."